Bethlehem – A Little Town but an Important One

Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”
Matthew 1:23 – “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. When I was a child, I looked forward to getting things that I had wanted months in advance as presents under the tree. When I was a teenager, I looked forward to the days I would have off from school, not worrying about homework or finals or any of those things. When I got into college, I looked forward to just being able to take a load off of the burden of the college quarter system (10 week classes, whose scheduled looked like this: 3rd week – 1st midterm, 7th week – 2nd midterm, 10th week – Papers due, 11th week – finals). But now that I am working, I just look forward to have a few days off from work to spend some quality time with family. But in addition, to just these things, I have always looked forward to the Christmas music that is playing on the radio and the Christmas movies on TV. These last two months, I have been loading up on more Christmas movies than I can count. I watched part of It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra classic where a down on his luck fella learns about the value of his life and family during Christmas time. I watched maybe 5-10 Hallmark movies which have ranged from Christmas romances to Christmas family movies. I have also seen a few Lifetime Christmas movies about Christmas dances or Christmas parties. In many of these movies, a busy high-profile professional gets stuck in some little town, where he/she relearns the “meaning of Christmas” or brings Christmas spirit back to the town. It is the typical story that uplifts the heart, where the town and the professional both thank each other for helping the other relearn the meaning of Christmas. Interestingly enough, that plot line is very similar to what actually happened on that first Christmas eve (although not necessarily in December), when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Holy of Holies, the Prince of Peace, was born in the little town of Bethlehem. But instead of the town transforming the individual, the individual transformed the town, as well as, the whole earth.

Bethlehem was a small town located just five miles south of Jerusalem.1 It was a town in which very few people originally resided, to the point, where it was not even counted among the possessions of Judah, when Joshua was dividing out the land.2 This town definitely deserved the description given to it in Micah 5:2 – “who are too little to be among the clans of Judah.” The town was insignificant though its name would have argued otherwise – “house of bread.” Fortunately, it had at least a few things associated with its name, like the birthplace of King David, the home of Ruth and Naomi, and the burial place of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob loved.1 But even in towns with big names associated with it, eventually the town becomes of no consequence unless something in it causes history to change dramatically. For example, who can name the town where Abraham Lincoln was born? I can’t. Do you know the island of Guernsey and which famous author lived there? Bet you didn’t know that Victor Hugo, the author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame lived there. What about Key West, Florida? Did you know that Ernest Hemmingway lived there? No matter who was born or lived in a town, the town is still of no consequence lest something dramatic happens in it, which is what happened on that Christmas eve. Bethlehem went from a town so lowly to a town that will never be forgotten.

What happened in Bethlehem that night that caused it to be immortalized in song, movies, and books can be found in the end of Micah 5:2, “from you shall come, forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days,” as well as, in our second passage, Matthew 1:23 – “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Bethlehem became the city in which Jesus Christ the Savior of the world would be born. Bethlehem became the location where the Ruler of all nature, the Lord of all Creation, would first take His breath on this earth. Bethlehem became the location where the name Immanuel became a reality – where God would physically dwell with us. But Bethlehem is not renowned for the miraculous Virgin birth or the angelic choirs that announced it, but for the person who was born – Jesus Christ. It was the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in that town that evening that has caused all of us to remember this town as one of the most important locations on earth throughout history. Jesus Christ transformed something lowly into something incredible. This is the story of Christmas; this is the purpose of His coming; this is what we all celebrated.

Christ’s presence will radically transform anything into something new just as He did that night in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ’s being carried by Mary turned a young virgin who would never have been noticed by anyone into a girl who ranks as one of the most influential women in history. Jesus Christ’s death on Calvary turned a dark horrid place of bloodshed into a place where eternal life would be bought and the penalty of death would be paid in full. Jesus Christ’s resurrection at the garden tomb would transform tears of sorrow accompanied with the death of a loved one to shouts of joy and anticipation of the resurrection. Christ’s transforming presence has also changed my half-hearted religious business contract with God into a personal, loving friendship with Him. God took a heart full of doubt and fear and made it a heart that will firmly place its faith on the Rock of Ages. God with us, Immanuel, is the great gift that was given to each of us that night in Bethlehem that not only transformed Bethlehem but continues to transform lives of people today.

We can learn three things from what happened in Bethlehem that night. First, we can learn of God’s steadfast, unbounding, uncomprehendable love for us. Jesus Christ gave up His glory in heaven to be born not as a king in a palace in Jerusalem but in a humble stable cave in a town whose name was not even put in the record of possessions. He loved us so much that He willingly went to the cross to die for our sins, while we were still His enemies, sinners rejecting His love for us. Second, we can learn that Christ is willing to come into and transform any life no matter how lowly. No matter how sinful you are, no matter how little or inconsequential or unimportant you feel – Christ came and died for you. John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world…” not just a few people in it, but the whole world including you. If you were the only person that needed saving, He still would have came for you. He loves you that much. Christ came to save the most righteous as well as the chiefest of sinners and He certainly came for you. Lastly, we can learn that Christ’s in one’s life should transform it completely. Though you may be lowly, Christ’s presence in your life once you accept Him as Lord and Savior should transform you into a person of significance in His eyes. But even more, Christ’s presence should turn your life of sin and degradation into a life of joy and obedience. I can attest that this does not happen quickly or easily and takes a deliberate choice of will, but it is worth it. Just four to five days ago, I made the decision to take the business contract of “I’m saved so I need to do this for God” into a willing obedience to Him, and I will tell you that that has turned everything around. It has given me a renewed joy, a renewed faith, and a renewed peace. The Bible says that if we are in Christ, we are a new creation, old things have passed behold all things are new – in other words, we are transformed. So we need to live that way.

As Bethlehem was transformed that night by the greatest gift the world has ever seen – God’s presence in it. Let Christ change your life today and let the name Immanuel – God with us – be true with you by allowing Him to live and reign in your heart daily, living your life for Him. May those outside see Christ living through us so much that they testify that God is with us.

Merry Christmas!
1. Youngblood, Ronald F. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995.
2. Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. http://bible.cc/micah/5-2.htm.

What Will You be Resurrected To?

Daniel 12:1-3 – “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.  And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.  But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” 

In 2009, a movie called 2012 starring John Cusak was released depicting a world that was falling apart due to environmental disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis caused by shifting magnetic fields in the earth’s core.  This movie made quite a bit at the box office feeding off of our desire to watch disaster films with their realistic effects without having to worry about it ever touching us.  The inspiration of this movie likely came from the theory that the world is supposed to end on December 21, 2012, because the Mayan calendar all of a sudden stops on that date.  Some people believe that the Mayans were trying to prophesy the end of the world.  Do I personally believe in this conspiracy theory?  Nope, because I know that nobody knows the day of Christ’s return, so how could they possibly ever make a prediction like that?  But could they be right?  Maybe.  We’ll just have to wait till the 21^st to see won’t we?  Even if the world doesn’t end on that date, many people have been making these types of predictions for centuries.  For example, in the 1800s, a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller predicted that Christ would return before 1843, creating a national movement that resulted in what is known as the Great Disappointment.  Even just a year ago, a pastor at a church here in California made that prediction causing many of the members in his congregation to go into financial difficulty; in the end, he had to come out and apologize, remembering that Christ said that no one knows the date of His return.  The truth is that when Christ returns and the world will end is irrelevant.  What really matters is whether you are ready for Christ’s return.

In Matthew 24, Jesus describes what the world will look like before He returns – “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”  Many Christians today say that this describes the day and age we live in today meaning that we are nearing His return every day.  I definitely would agree, but I would be careful to remind them that this has been what the world has looked like from Jesus’ time until now.  Christ gave His disciples this description to remind them that they needed to be ready at any time for His return, because He could come at any time.

Our passage today comes from Daniel 12:1-3, which follows up Daniel’s prophecies about the end times in the preceding chapters.  In these verses, we are reminded that in the end, there will be a time of judgment in which all people will appear before the throne of God to be judged, both the living and the dead – “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”  Nobody escapes.  Revelation 20:11-15 describes it in more detail – “¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Everyone will eventually die until the time of Christ’s return, so the question that is presented to you today is “Which group from Daniel 12 will you appear in before the judgment seat of God – the group that is awoken to everlasting life or the group that is awoken to shame and everlasting contempt?”  Is your name found in the book of life or are you going to be thrown into the lake of fire?”

The first group that Daniel presents is the one that is woken up to everlasting life.  This group represents all the people that have placed their trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  These are the people who are experiencing the joys of Christ on this earth already and will be experiencing endless joys when Christ returns with His new heaven and earth, where there will be no more tears, pain, or sorrow.  They will be able to walk the streets of gold, pass through the pearly gates, taste the fruits from the tree of life, and refresh themselves with the river of the water of life (Rev 21-22).  These are the people, whose names are found in the book of life, who will spend eternity worshipping the Lord their God.  For those who have experienced this new life, I need not go into detail any further about the joys already being found here and awaiting them in the future, so instead our focus should be placed on the subgroups in this category:  those who are wise, those who turn many to righteousness, and those who are rescued but do nothing.

Although all people who have placed their faith in Christ will be part of this group that receives everlasting life, Daniel goes further in vs. 3 to describe the glory and honor given to those in this group who go further to become wiser and turn others to righteousness – “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  The first subgroup is those who are wise.  Wisdom is not only knowing what is good and right but also applying that knowledge practically.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so those who desire to be wise must begin at that point.  Are you as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ living in a way and manner that fears the Lord, that respects Him?  Are you living in a manner where you are keeping His commandments and following His way?  Just skim through the book of Proverbs, a book filled with wisdom written by the man who is the wisest person that ever lived, and you will find countless of things to put on your New Year’s checklist to apply to your life to become wise.  I truly recommend that if you want to be a part of this group that will “shine like the brightness of the sky above” you should invest some time in God’s Word, seeking His will, and doing it, for it is through obedience that knowledge that you gained from reading becomes wisdom.  The second subgroup that is spoken of is those who turn others to righteousness.  This is a grand and huge calling that we are once again reminded of in Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”  This group that turns others to righteousness does not just represent those people who are passively trying to enforce good and evil on the world through knowledge of the Bible, but it represents a group of people that are persistently going out and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for no one can be found as righteous before God.  Psalm 143:2 states that “no one living is righteous before you [God].”  That means that nobody on this earth no matter how good they are can be considered righteous before God, for all have sinned.  The only way that anybody can be found righteous before Him is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which only comes when one receives Christ as his Lord and Savior.  We as Christians who desire to become part of this subgroup that will be like “the stars forever and ever,” like the stories forever remembered in the constellations that we see above, must go out and share the Gospel.  We must drive people to not only live righteously but become righteous by bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We need to bring them to the cross where Christ died for our sins.  We need to bring them to the empty tomb, where Christ rose again, proving that we all will have this new resurrection and that we all already have this new life in Christ, one where we are found righteous before God.  Then, we must disciple them to become part of this subgroup as well.  The third and last subgroup is one that is not spoken of by Daniel, which I call the silent majority, which is where I feel a lot of Christians are today.  We are a passive group that have been saved by Christ but are not living it out in our lives.  We preach and teach that Jesus Christ transforms lives, yet we continue to live in our sin.  We are saved from the depths of hell and the lake of fire, but we continue to live enslaved to sin.  This subgroup I feel fails to realize what Christ has truly saved them from.  They recognize that when Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins and saved us, but they forget what from.  Christ did not come to save us from hell.  He did not come to save us from our problems.  He came to save us from sin – from sin’s dominion over our lives, which means that foremost He saved us from sin’s enslavement as well as its penalty.  This subgroup needs to wake up and realize that if it continues to live this way, it is doing nothing but discouraging others from turning to Christ driving others into the next group mentioned by Daniel.

The second group mentioned by Daniel, whom I hope nobody will be in by the end of today, is those who will be raised up to shame and everlasting contempt.  This group is represented by those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s book of life; instead, when Christ returns, and they are brought before the judgment seat, they will only experience shame for they will realize that they had missed their chance, they had missed their opportunity to be saved by His blood, they had missed their chance to experience everlasting life and will be bound to everlasting contempt and mourning in the lake of fire.  I cannot describe the horrors of hell, for I know not what it is like, but I will try to give you a picture.  This lake of fire is a place in which you will hear the screams and agony of countless people worse than the sound of nails on a chalkboard.  It is a place where you will feel like you have burned your pinky on the hot oven over and over throughout your whole body.  It is a place where you will feel eternal separation and loneliness like the time when you fought with your very best friend or lost a loved one.  Here you will continue to live with the regret and guilt knowing that you gave up the free gift that was given to you to escape all of this trouble in the first place, the gift given to you this Christmas.  I wish that I will not see any of you in this group, when Christ returns.

But for those that are still in this group today, you need not be in it for long, for this is the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.  All of us were in this group before, we all deserved to be brought back on the day of judgment to shame and everlasting contempt, but due to God’s wonderful love, grace, and mercy, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  During this season, two thousand years ago, Christ willingly came down from His glory in heaven to be born of a virgin who could not even afford a room in the inn.  The King of kings who deserves all glory and power and honor was instead given swaddling clothes (clothes used to clean animals) as his birth clothes and a manger as His crib.  In that manger, He humbly sacrificed His glory for us.  But we must not stop there and only look at the miracle and graciousness in His birth, but we must remember that from that point forward, He worked His way to what He ultimately came to do, to die on the cross for our sins – to experience the shame and contempt we deserve to feel at the end of time.  On that cross, He willingly sacrificed His life for us.  But the story did not end on that sad note, but He went further and resurrected showing us that for those who will put their trust in Him, death no longer had power over them.  In that garden, He triumphantly brought victory and life to us.  Christ did all of that for us so that when all mankind is brought before His throne on the day of judgment, He would find us in the group that is woken up to everlasting life.  God does not want any of us to perish but for all of us to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9 states it best, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  He has been waiting for you.  He holds up His return for you.  Will you not give your life to Him?

Consider which group you are in today and before this day ends, for those in the latter group, give your life to Him.  For those who were in the former group that will already be waking up to everlasting life, be determined to be found in the subgroups of the wise and those who turn others to righteousness, for how can you live any other type of life if you just consider how much Christ gave to you this Christmas season?  And how can you do anything else but give yourself fully to Christ and to others just as He did this Christmas?

A Gift for God

Ephesians 5:1 – “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 

During Christmas time, just like when attending a birthday party as a child, we seek to give the best gifts possible to our family and friends.  We want them to remember our gift amidst all the other presents that are sitting underneath the Christmas tree.  While pondering on some of the best gifts I have ever given to people, even outside of Christmas, I was brought back to a story that my dad has used as an illustration in many of his messages.  He says that when I was a kid I wrote an essay for school about who I looked to as a hero, basically, an essay on who I wanted to be like when I got older.  Being a comic book junkie today, if I guessed, I would probably say that I wrote about Mr. Fantastic, the genius brain behind the Fantastic Four, or Spider-Man; but what I found out I wrote was that I wanted to be like my dad.  He says that that is one of the greatest gifts he ever received, even though it may not have actually been a gift for any specific occasion.  That had to be one of the greatest gifts I have ever given.

But the big question is “What gift can we bring to our God this Christmas?”  We worship the Lord of all Creation, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.  How can we offer the One who holds the whole world in the palms of His hands a gift worthy enough for Him?  The honest truth is we really can’t give Him something worthy of Him, but we can give Him something He wants – our lives.  For those who have yet to give their hearts and lives over to Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior, the greatest thing you can give Him is the child-like faith in Him as your Savior and LORD.  But for those of us who are already disciples of Jesus Christ, who have chosen to commit our lives to living for Him each day, our greatest gift would be the daily laying down of our lives as we pick up our crosses.  This can best be put into action through the highest form of flattery – imitation.

Paul splits his letter to the Ephesians in two parts – doctrine in the first three chapters and practical action in the last three.  In the middle of this section on practical living for Christ, he begins chapter 5 by reminding the disciples at Ephesus to be imitators of God, which basically sums up how we as disciples of Jesus Christ should live every day, for when we imitate Him, we cannot help but fulfill every command that He set before us.  For example, if you imitated Christ in love, you would fulfill His command to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34-35).  How can you have a greater love than His – a love that placed Himself on a cross to die for those who were still His enemies?  If you imitated Christ in obedience, there could be no sin in your life, for Christ was the perfect Son of God, who obeyed every will of His Father in heaven.  If you imitated His character, you could not help but show His humility, His hospitality, and His grace, mercy, and forgiveness of others, completing the Beatitudes.   By imitating God, you would best fulfill His will for your life.

But Paul does not stop there; he goes on to further describe how they should imitate God – “as beloved children.”  Just like a child desires to be like his parents (if they are good ones), we should desire to be like our Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Comforter – the Holy Spirit.  Children can’t help but want to be like their parents, such was I, when I wrote that essay about wanting to be like my dad.  Children in child-like faith never set restraints to how much they want to imitate their parents, for they at the time picture their mother or father to be the most perfect person they know.  As we grow older though, we realize our parents are flawed and begin to set boundaries to how much we want to be like them and how much we want to improve; but with God, we get nothing but perfection.  He is the Perfect Father, and we can imitate Him with that same child-like faith and commitment.  No boundaries, no limits, no improvements.  Just complete full imitation.

The greatest gift we can give to our Lord and Savior this Christmas as well as every day of our lives is a humble heart that will lay our lives down before Him, take up our cross, and follow Him.  The best way to do this is to imitate Him in character, deed, and heart.  Let us make the commitment to imitate our God from this time forth and throughout the new year, for this is how we as disciples tangibly give Him our lives and serve Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

*We will be going over more topics on gifts for Christmas so stay tuned.